A major disaster was narrowly averted when an 80ft tree toppled inches from a home.

Luckily the 100-year-old chestnut tree fell towards the home of Steve and Marie Hawkins and away from the adjoining railway line that runs parallel to Cromwell Road, Grimsby.

Trains heading into and away from Grimsby had to reduce speed as they passed the scene of the damage caused when the tree toppled over at around 11am today.

A lucky escape for Marie Hawkins of Chestnut Avenue in Grimsby after a tree fell within inches of her home as well as the train line into Grimsby.

Resident Steve Hawkins said: “It doesn’t bear thinking about if it had gone the other way and a train was underneath. People would not have had a chance. It could easily have derailed a train if one was passing. It is massive. It was there but by the grace of God.”

He added: “We are so lucky. It just missed our home. But it has smashed the shed and damaged everything in it.”

He told he had warned authorities about the state of the trees earlier in the year.